Ins and outs of VPN tunneling

Ever wish you could tunnel past country restrictions to see web content denied to foreign visitors? Sometimes you can, using a Virtual Personal Network.

I recently purchased a VPN service that encrypts all of the web traffic between my computer and the source. It’s a good thing to have if you check your email via public wifi networks at coffee shops or the library. Your passwords and communications are kept private.

A bonus is that your point of origin is also obscured. I kind of like the fact that government spy agencies don’t like VPNs. China goes so far as to ban them. If Brits can watch our CBC content and I can see some of their BBC content, I don’t mind that either.

VPNs don’t remove all geographical barriers on the internet. Some content will still hit blockades. The main purpose of such networks is to frustrate the ever-increasing army of snoops, social platform profilers, marketeers and spies who monitor everything we do online.

Which brings me to a quote I admire, from Edward Snowden:

Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.